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Jahner picks up first-ever win

Press Photo by Meaghan MacDonald
Dickinson’s Chad Jahner drives during Heat 2 of the Wissota Street Stocks on Saturday at the Southwest Speedway. Jahner picked up his first-ever win in the Street Stocks on Saturday.

Third time’s a charm.

With seven laps to go, Dickinson’s Chad Jahner pulled in front of Shaun Volk for the lead of the Wissota Streets Stocks en route to his first-ever win in the class with his third-ever drive in the car.

“I didn’t think I would get one this quick in this class,” said Jahner, who was all smiles. “I’m elated right now and I don’t know what to say. It’s going to take a while to sink in.”

After seeing a lot of success in the Pure Stocks, Jahner decided to move up in the competition and noticed right away the differences between the cars and especially the drivers.

While it was easier for Jahner to read his opponents and know how to maneuver around them, the Streets competition is all the same and extremely competitive. If a driver makes one wrong move, he or she is done for.

“You make one little mistake in these cars and they’re going to go right past you and if they make a mistake then you’re going to go right past them, hence what happened to (Volk),” Jahner said. “He made that mistake up there and I was gone.”

Photo finishes can make both drivers nervous, especially if car numbers sound similar.

On the final lap of the Thunder 4s, reining winner Kody Stoxen (14) and Josh Roehrich (4D) flew across the finish line neck and neck, but Roehrich shifted to third gear and was able to get slightly ahead to take his first Southwest Speedway victory of the season.

“I had fun. I run with Kody every weekend in Mandan so it’s a good time,” said Roehrich, who is from Menoken. “We run real clean together it’s a fun race.”

Roehrich has been racing for six years and the past five with the same car.

This season he decided it was time for a new car and instead of purchasing one, built it himself. Roerhrich is passionate for his cars and enjoys what goes into putting them together.

“I always put the most work in my car because I enjoy doing it. It’s a whole winter project,” he said. “I run the (Pure Stocks) in Mandan too, so I run two classes in Mandan and its tons of work.”

In racing, it is always tough to get a win. Even fewer can get multiple wins in a season.

Both Pure Stocks and IMCA Modifieds classes saw racers pick up their second wins in Deryk Voller and Eric Burwick, respectively.

After squeezing through a tight space on lap seven, Voller, who is from Dickinson, won his second race in a row in the Pure Stocks.

“I never won two in a row, last year actually was my first feature win,” Voller said. “Last week was my second and this is my third. It’s been fun getting the car to work good.”

For the first five laps, Paul Wallmer cruised to the front and held on until Tyler Bartholomew snuck by on the turn to capture the lead. But Bartholomew’s lead was short lived as a caution on lap seven allowed him, Voller and Jeremy Engelhardt to become neck and neck.

Voller, who was right in the middle, squeezed his way forward to take the lead and cruise his way to his second consecutive victory.

“I started around ninth worked my way through the field and got lucky, got a couple cautions to bunch us back up,” he said. “I just got the win from there.”

In the last race of the night, there were a few lead changes. Quentin Kinzley held a strong lead with last race’s winner, Mike Hansen, right behind. Hansen was able to take the front spot but with seven laps to go, lost his tire and relinquished his spot to Burwick.

Last race Burwick got lost in the traffic and pulled out a fifth place finish, but didn’t have any trouble maneuvering around the other cars on Saturday.

“It was a good time, it was a good track, fun, fast good competition,” Burwick said. “Didn’t want to see Mike break though.”

The races continue in two weeks at 7 p.m. on June 14 at the Southwest Speedway.

Meaghan is the sports page designer and copy editor for the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. After graduating from James Madison University (Va.) in May 2013, she moved from New Jersey to North Dakota to start pursuing her career in sports journalism and was a sports reporter for the Dickinson Press and covered Dickinson State athletics. Meaghan has been working for the Forum since June 2015.